Day 3
After a fitful night's sleep, our elite team arose as the boat was approaching France to fuel up with an "all you can eat" fry-up (the true athlete's breakfast). Spurred on by this, there was much faffing as we departed from the ferry and everyone decided what they were going to wear in the car-park by the support van. Alyson was firmly in trucker mode and the huge Mercedes van provided to us by Scott Law – a million thanks for your unbelievable support – was emptied of food, drink and chosen the appropriate outfits. Slightly warily, the team set off in search of the big hill we had been promised out of Le Havre . Thankfully, this never arrived and we were able to ease into day 3 with a ride out along the Seine with only Jamie's squeaking brakes intruding on the morning silence of Le Havre .
With a glorious sunrise and a growing hunger, we pressed on for 36 miles for the morning's (second) breakfast. Arriving at our agreed rendezvous, we were greeted by the welcoming sight of the Scott Law van and Paul and Alyson laden down with pain au raisin, pain au chocolat, French sticks and brioche. Paul and Alyson had also located a convenient café to give us a quick caffeine hit. With the promise of sandwiches, pate and tarts for lunch, the performance directors (Paul and Alyson) were excelling in their role.
With a decent number of miles already under our belt (and the pain au raisin around the belt region), we were able to enjoy a stunning ride through French countryside to lunch in the classic French picnic spot – a busy road lay by.
With sports drinks being guzzled in the heat – many thanks to Nick Howe and Baxter Storey for our food and drink – the team were forced to take regular roadside 'pit stops'. The girls adopted the brazen French approach and, in the process, managed to expose themselves to the rest of the team, a smiling French cyclist who then proceeded up the hill to comment to the boys "mauvais choix" ("bad choice"), and a couple walking their dog.
Heading off from lunch, we finished the day with a cycle into the pretty town of Vernon to be greeted by a rather grim-faced Alyson, who had already been to inspect our accommodation. After her experience the previous night, Alyson appeared to be expecting a step up from a ship's cabin, but was rather disappointed to find that the hotel booked by Huw was even more basic. The €30 per room that we spent on this was perhaps the best value night you can get if you include the hour's rant we got from Alyson, the naked men running down the corridors all night and the magician who arrived back in the hotel at 7:00am to greet us for breakfast after an all night bender.
After a fitful night's sleep, our elite team arose as the boat was approaching France to fuel up with an "all you can eat" fry-up (the true athlete's breakfast). Spurred on by this, there was much faffing as we departed from the ferry and everyone decided what they were going to wear in the car-park by the support van. Alyson was firmly in trucker mode and the huge Mercedes van provided to us by Scott Law – a million thanks for your unbelievable support – was emptied of food, drink and chosen the appropriate outfits. Slightly warily, the team set off in search of the big hill we had been promised out of Le Havre . Thankfully, this never arrived and we were able to ease into day 3 with a ride out along the Seine with only Jamie's squeaking brakes intruding on the morning silence of Le Havre .
With a glorious sunrise and a growing hunger, we pressed on for 36 miles for the morning's (second) breakfast. Arriving at our agreed rendezvous, we were greeted by the welcoming sight of the Scott Law van and Paul and Alyson laden down with pain au raisin, pain au chocolat, French sticks and brioche. Paul and Alyson had also located a convenient café to give us a quick caffeine hit. With the promise of sandwiches, pate and tarts for lunch, the performance directors (Paul and Alyson) were excelling in their role.
With a decent number of miles already under our belt (and the pain au raisin around the belt region), we were able to enjoy a stunning ride through French countryside to lunch in the classic French picnic spot – a busy road lay by.With sports drinks being guzzled in the heat – many thanks to Nick Howe and Baxter Storey for our food and drink – the team were forced to take regular roadside 'pit stops'. The girls adopted the brazen French approach and, in the process, managed to expose themselves to the rest of the team, a smiling French cyclist who then proceeded up the hill to comment to the boys "mauvais choix" ("bad choice"), and a couple walking their dog.
Heading off from lunch, we finished the day with a cycle into the pretty town of Vernon to be greeted by a rather grim-faced Alyson, who had already been to inspect our accommodation. After her experience the previous night, Alyson appeared to be expecting a step up from a ship's cabin, but was rather disappointed to find that the hotel booked by Huw was even more basic. The €30 per room that we spent on this was perhaps the best value night you can get if you include the hour's rant we got from Alyson, the naked men running down the corridors all night and the magician who arrived back in the hotel at 7:00am to greet us for breakfast after an all night bender.
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